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physical goals and plans

I've always been an athlete. In about the second grade, my parents wanted to make sure we were good swimmers. I think they must have done some shopping around and decided it was most efficient at that time to put us on a swim team rather than pay for lessons. The coaches taught us to swim, and I accelled pretty well. Unfortunately, after a few years, they either couldn't afford the money or time consumed by that activity and pulled us out.

By the fifth grade, I started thinking more about my own fitness. I started running on my own. I even did push ups and sit ups. I also played pee wee football. At least compared to the other kids at school, it seemed I accelled at running.

So, in middle school, I dropped football to run cross country and track in the spring. I did ok, but the competition was stiffer.

In highschool, I stuck with cross country. I also decided to try wrestling, which turned out I loved. I enjoyed running, but loved wrestling. I was good at wrestling, but not great. I was respected by other local teams, but unknown to the rest of Ohio state. I never made it to the state tournament. My biggest challenge, though, was academics. Feeling the burdon of three sports in the academic year, I dropped track.

Eventually, I made it to college and gave it another try. I aspired to be great. Turned out I was a great throw dummy for my team mates. I still loved it, though. There was probably only two reasons I was never cut: 1) I always pushed myself as hard as I could, and 2) because of that I pushed the better wrestlers when they lacked motivation or energy from cutting weight.

After college, I kept up my running and mixed in weight training, and even entered the occassional open wrestling tournaments. Certain elements of my job required a level of physical fitness, and so that kept me motivated to at least meet that standard. After a few years, I got a call from my brother. He had been running half marathons. He challenged me to a half ironman. It was something I'd always wanted to do since I saw the Ironman in Hawai on World Wide Sports as a child. I accepted.

I trained for about 6 months in preparation. As a biproduct, I improved in tasks at work that required physical fitness, much to my astonishment. I believed that I would shrivel up into a skinny running man figure, and lose much of my muscle mass. I did lose some muscle mass, but not a significant ammount. What I did lose seemed to be more than compensated for with my endurance to complete more quantities of those tasks at a higher rate of speed that required the strength, even if my peak strength had decreased slightly.

I finished that race in 2003, but lost to my brother. I did not preform up to my expectations, at all. The open water swim was much more difficult than I had anticipated. I had mechanical problems on the bike that would have taken me out of the race. Luckily one of the aid stations was at a farm house where the resident came to the rescue with the needed tools from his barn. I attempted to enter my anticipated race pace as I entered the run portion. It wasn't so much the legendary bicycle legs that held me back, though. I could have run through that. It was a god awful stomach cramp that hit me like a brick whenever I tried to "run" faster than a 12:00 mile pace. The lowest point for me was when a woman who appeared to be about ten years older than me with a nice little pooch ran past me encouraging me. I love her for it, and may god bless her. But there I was, appearing as a fit, well defined, "in shape" young man, being passed by an overweight older woman.

When I met my brother back at the hotel, I started packing up all the bike gear he had loaned to me and handed him the box. "You don't think you'll need these?" he asked. "No, I'll never do one of these again," I said.

People at work knew about my triathlon venture. For the next two years, it was as if I continued running triathlons in their eyes. They assumed I ran fast and vast distances on a regular bases. I did continue to run, but scaled significantly back down to my pre race distances of 3 to 5 miles. I returned to the weight room.

I lived at that time in eastern Kentucky. We moved there just prior to the race. On my scenic drives to work, my mind would frequently float back to the race and the preparation, and what I could have done better. It occured to me during one of these drives, that I lived in a perfect place to train. Mountain roads could do wonders for hill training both on bike and run. There were also several lakes that I could practice open water swimming. Finally, I decided I just couldn't pass up the opportunities. I had been bitten by the triathlon bug.

I bought all the gear. Previously, I just made out with what I had. This time I bought a $1200.00 tri specific bike, wet suit, garmin wrist worne gps, heart rate monitor, even a canoe that my wife could follow me in when I swim in the lake. Then we decided to move again.

At the same time, I was applying for a new job with different, higher, tested physical fitness standards. I didn't have full faith in myself in attaining this job, not because of the fitness standards, but other elements of the application process. "Oh yee of little faith." Within six months of our moving, it became more and more evident that I would be offered this job. I had to change my workout routines in order to train specifically for the fitness standards. I wasn't realizing gains in areas that I needed as fast as I needed. I turned to Stewart Smith for help at http://www.stewsmith.com/. I ordered one of his workout books. He kicked my butt, but it worked well. So well, in fact, I started gaining strength and muscle mass I'd never seen before without long hours tossing weights around. Stew uses some weights, but concentrates mostly on calestinics and running.

I'm in that job, now. In all of my physical fitness experience, an idea has formulated in my head and turned into a goal. I want to maximise my body's potential for strength, speed and endurance - simultaneously. I've done research on the topic. There are conflicting points of view as to whether or not this can be done. From microbiology research papers to military training, I've reviewed copious materials on the idea. Obviously, I wasn't the first with the goal. Conflicting scientific studies have been done with researchers saying either yes it can be done or no it is impossible. Physical fitness experts are also divided. If a vote were to be taken, I speculate that more would say that it is impossible than those that say it is possible.

I think it is possible. I am familiar with the biology that indicates otherwise, but I could also cite examples of the human speciman that support my stand. Take for example members of the special forces teams. Also consider in history, lumber jacks, rail road workers, and miners who preformed tasks all day long requiring the high strength levels to operate hand tools for ten to twelve hours a day.

I may be able to conceid that FULL strength, speed, and endurance potential may not be realizable simultaneously. However, it is my contention that SIGNIFICANTLY INCREASED strength, speed, and endurance levels can be realized simultaneously. And, I have developed a plan to test my contention on myself.

I'm combining a full Ironman workout schedule with one of Stewart Smith's workouts. I'm alternating which workout to follow every day. I hope to sprinkle in some races to include running races, biking races, and if I can find any swimming, as well as olympic and sprint triathlon races throughout the year. I plan to peak next summer with a half ironman, then taper off for a few weeks and renew my training with adjustments. The ultimate goal is to be accepted to a specialized team at work with the highest physical fitness standards within three years. Even though the Ironman training plan is designed for a full Ironman, my immediate plans don't include entering a full Ironman, although I am open to the possibility, depending upon my progression.

Unfortunately for anybody reading this, I can't site the cite that I obtained the free 20 week Ironman training program. I downloaded the entire program, printed it out, and forgot where it came from. In preparing to make this entry, though, I did google for it. I came up with another one that is similar, and is to my liking as far as free programs go. Here is it's link: http://www.trifuel.com/triathlon/training-programs/index.php . Anybody familiar with half Ironman or Ironman training programs knows that there are several days that require two workouts. I don't have time for two workouts. I chose the full ironman workout specifically for this reason. If a day on the workout called for two workouts, I am splitting it into two days. In theory, cardiovascularly, a half of a full ironman workout day should be equal to a full half ironman day. Of course, in doing so I may be neglecting things such as muscular transition adjustments and other technical aspects of the triathlon, but

1) I'm not going to get that technical at least initially with my training
2) I think Stew Smith does a pretty good job at forcing these types of transitional excercises and
3) My goals are to maximize my own overall fitness, not to win races

I'm going to attempt to workout six days a week, knowing that some workouts are going to be foiled by things that come up either at home or at work. I'm also going to have to adjust training plans to fit my schedule. I can typically only swim on Saturdays because the pool schedule doesn't coincide well with my work schedule. Also, some long workouts over an hour and a half (both Ironman and Stew) will have to be on weekends.

Tomorrow, or maybe even this evening, I'll start documenting my progress here. I started Saturday, September 15th, with a swim according to the ironman plan. Sunday I did a Stew workout. I won't be revealing details about Stew workouts, because he sells his programs and I'd be likely infringing upon copy right laws if I gave the details. Instead, I'll just document my general preformance with maybe just one or two highlights of the details.